Have you ever stood face to face with a bull moose with only a camera and a small sapling between you? Or almost tripped over a fawn hidden in knee-high grass while following a herd of deer along a lake shore? Or waded across a 150-foot-wide (45 meters) river of ice water reaching to your chest? These are samples of the kind of excitement that came my way, and all within a few days, during my first backpacking trip several summers ago. Thrilling experiences like these are part of the reason for the recent backpacking boom. The adventure of getting out in God's creation and roughing it has a growing appeal in our increasingly mechanized and crowded world.

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